Review by Lbowie10 -- Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin

[Lbowie10]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Becoming the Dragon" by Alex Sapegin.]

---

2 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

This is a voluntary review of Becoming the Dragon by Alex Sapegin.

Andy was a normal boy until he was stuck by lightning while on a school field trip. Annoyed that the lightning strike did not leave him with super powers, Andy is even more upset to find that he can’t go near computers without causing an electrical surge and making them freeze up. Without the normal distractions of electronics, Andy finds alternative hobbies such as cooking, bow shooting, reading and laughing at his sister’s fantasy obsessed cosplaying friends to fill his time.

In an ironic twist, he is transported to another dimension, complete with mages, orcs and elves while walking to his father’s lab. In the new world, he faces strange predators, vengeful princesses and other trials which challenge him mentally and physically, pushing him to his breaking point. Using all his resources and embracing his newly found magical abilities, Andy prevails as the odds stack higher against him.

Andy manages to make dangerous enemies, including the human king and his executioner. He also manages to make some very powerful friends including one of the last living dragons and an ancient elf with a mysterious back story that makes you want to reach for the second book in the series. The two perform an ancient ritual which turns Andy into a Dragon. Young and strong willed, Andy could be the one to revive the dragons of old and save the world.

Becoming the Dragon is a somewhat short and very fast paced fantasy novel. It is perfect for people who like the genre, but do not have the time or desire to dive into one of the thousand plus page epic fantasy tales which normally dominate the fantasy shelves. Each character, while not flushed out in too much detail, has just enough intrigue to make you curious of their back stories and how their roles will play out as the series progresses.

There were some pacing issues with the book. The author rushes through some important moments which causes the reader to miss out on watching the character growth and development. At times it is hard to see how a character was impacted by a certain series of events and relationships between characters are not explored as much as they could have been.
Lastly, the world the author built is vast and could have been explained in more detail. In the author’s defense, I believe some of these things were left out intentionally to keep the story short and the reading easy, but I would have liked to see a better balance of story progression and character development.

I gave Becoming the Dragon 2 out of 4 stars. I gave it this rating because while I enjoy the general idea of the story, I believe it could have been executed better. I would prefer that the author had given the reader a more complete understanding of the world he had built and the characters he had created. That being said, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy and is short pressed for time or doesn’t want to commit to a long story. This book fills that niche very nicely and good short fantasy stories are hard to find.

******
Becoming the Dragon
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords

Like Lbowie10's review? Post a comment saying so!